The Clash - London Calling/ Train In The Vain (Live On Fridays)

Love the Clash! Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Thank you, my friend SGT (Join to see) for making us aware that December 15 is the anniversary of the birth of bass guitar playing musician Paul Gustave Simonon

The Clash, radio interview, September 2013
Johnnie Walker talks to Topper Headon, Mick Jones & Paul Simonon about the band's career and the new box set, Sound System.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-6NQexMGD8


Images:
1. Paul Simonon bass player with The Clash
2. Paul Simonon with his wife Tricia Ronane [divorced in 2008],
3. Paul Simonon with his wife Tricia Ronane and their two sons Louis and Claude
4. Paul Simonon at the Eurockéennes of 2007

Biographies
1. peoplepill.com/people/paul-simonon/
2. thefullwiki.org/Paul_Simonon

1. Background from peoplepill.com/people/paul-simonon/
"Paul Gustave Simonon (born 15 December 1955) is an English musician and artist best known as the bassist for the punk rock band The Clash. More recent work includes his involvement in the project The Good, the Bad & the Queen in 2007 with Damon Albarn, Simon Tong and Tony Allen and the Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach in 2010, which along with Albarn saw him reunite with Mick Jones.
Biography/History
Simonon was born in Thornton Heath, Croydon, Surrey. His father, Gustave, was an amateur artist and his mother, Elaine, was a librarian. He grew up in both the South London area of Brixton and Ladbroke Grove in West London, spending around a year in Siena and Rome, Italy with his mother and stepfather. Before joining the Clash, he had planned to become an artist and attended the Byam Shaw School of Art, then based in Campden St, Kensington.
In 1976, he met Mick Jones and six months later the Clash was formed when Joe Strummer joined, with Jones on lead guitar. Simonon learned his bass parts by rote from Jones in the early days of The Clash and still did not know how to play the bass when the group first recorded. He is credited with coming up with the name of the band and was mainly responsible for the visual aspects such as clothing and stage backdrops. He was also immortalised on the front cover of the band's double album London Calling: Pennie Smith's image of him smashing his malfunctioning bass guitar during a 1979 concert in New York City has become one of the iconic pictures of the punk era.
Simonon played bass on almost all of the Clash's songs. Recordings that he did not play on include: "The Magnificent Seven" and "Lightning Strikes (Not Once but Twice)" on Sandinista! (played by Norman Watt-Roy), "Rock the Casbah" on Combat Rock (played by Topper Headon), and 10 of the 12 tracks on Cut the Crap(played by Norman Watt-Roy). Sandinista! featured bass played by Jones or Strummer, some but possibly not all of which Simonon later re-recorded once he rejoined the sessions after filming Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains. Also, when performing "The Guns of Brixton" live he switched instruments with Joe Strummer, because it was easier for this to sing while playing guitar, instead of bass.
Simonon's contrapuntal reggae/ska-influenced lines set him apart from the bulk of other punk rock bassists of the era in their complexity and the role of the bass guitar within the band.

After the Clash dissolved in 1986, Simonon started a band called Havana 3am. They recorded one album in Japan before breaking up. He also participated in a Bob Dylan session along with the Sex Pistols' Steve Jones that became part of the Dylan album Down in the Groove. Also, Simonon works as an artist – his first passion before joining the Clash. He has had several gallery shows, and designed the cover for Big Audio Dynamite's album, Tighten Up, Vol. 88, as well as the cover for "Herculean" from the album The Good, the Bad and the Queen, a project with Damon Albarn on which Simonon plays bass. Paul reunited with Damon Albarn and Mick Jones on the Gorillaz album Plastic Beach, and was also the bassist of the Gorillaz live band supporting Plastic Beach, along with Mick Jones on guitar. The band headlined the 2010 Coachella Festival, and took up residence at the Camden roundhouse for two nights in late April 2010.
In 2011, Simonon spent time aboard the Greenpeace vessel Esperanza incognito under the guise of "Paul the assistant cook" in response to Arctic oil drilling in Greenland by Cairn oil. He joined other Greenpeace activists in illegally boarding one of Cairn's oil rigs; an action which earned him two weeks in a Greenland jail. His identity was revealed to other crew members after the voyage, and he joined Damon Albarn and the other members of the Good, the Bad, and the Queen for a performance in London celebrating Greenpeace's 40th anniversary.
Actor Pete Morrow portrays Simonon in the 2016 film London Town which tells the story of a Clash-obsessed teenager who crosses paths with Joe Strummer by happenstance in 1979 and finds his life changing as a result.The film was met with mostly negative reviews.

2. Background from thefullwiki.org/Paul_Simonon
Biography
Simonon was born in Brixton, London, England. His father, Gustave, was a clerk in the civil service and his mother, Elaine, was a librarian. He grew up in the South London area of Brixton, spending around a year in Siena, Italy with his mother and stepfather. Before joining The Clash, he had planned to become an artist and attended the Byam Shaw School of Art, then based in Campden St, Kensington (now part of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design) relocated in Archway, London.

He was asked to join The Clash in 1976 by lead guitarist Mick Jones, who planned to teach Simonon guitar. However, the instrument proved too difficult for Simonon, so Jones decided to teach him bass instead.[3] In fact, Simonon would learn his bass parts by rote from Jones in the early days of The Clash and literally still did not know how to play the bass when the group first recorded. He is credited with coming up with the name of the band and was mainly responsible for the visual aspects such as clothing & stage backdrops.[4] He was also immortalized on the front cover of the band's double album London Calling; Pennie Smith's image of him smashing his bass has become one of the iconic pictures of the punk era.

Paul Simonon wrote three of the Clash's songs: "The Guns of Brixton" on London Calling, "The Crooked Beat" on Sandinista!, and the B-side "Long Time Jerk". He sang "Red Angel Dragnet" from Combat Rock but this song was written by Joe Strummer.

Simonon played bass on almost all of the Clash's songs. Recordings that he did not play on include: "The Magnificent Seven" and "Lightning Strikes (Not Once but Twice)" on Sandinista! (played by Norman Watt-Roy), "Rock the Casbah" on Combat Rock (played by Topper Headon), and 10 of the 12 tracks on Cut the Crap (played by Norman Watt-Roy). Many of the tracks on Combat Rock are thought to have bass tracks laid down by Mick Jones or engineer Eddie Garcia and early recordings on Sandinista! featured bass played by Jones or Strummer, some but possibly not all of which Simonon later re-recorded once he rejoined the sessions after filming Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains.[5][9]

Simonon's contrapuntal reggae-influenced lines set him apart from the bulk of other punk rock bassists of the era in terms of complexity and the role of the bass guitar within the band.[10] He usually played with a pick as opposed to plucking the strings with his fingers.

After the Clash dissolved in 1986, Simonon started a band called Havana 3am. They recorded one album in Japan before breaking up. He also participated in a Bob Dylan session along with the Sex Pistols' Steve Jones that became part of the Dylan album Down in the Groove. Presently, Simonon works as an artist - his first passion before joining the Clash. He has had several gallery shows, and designed the cover for Big Audio Dynamite's album, Tighten Up, Vol. 88, as well as the cover for "Herculean" from the album The Good, the Bad and the Queen, a project with Damon Albarn on which Simonon plays bass. In 2008, after a seven year gap, Simonon began exhibiting paintings again with an exhibition at Thomas Williams Fine Art, London.[11] One of his paintings was bought by British singer Lily Allen for £23,500, according to the Telegraph newspaper.[12] Paul will be reuniting with Damon Albarn and Mick Jones on the new Gorillaz album Plastic Beach. It has been confirmed that he is collaborating with Jones on the album's title track, "Plastic Beach".

Paul Simonon
Paul is known for using white Fender Precision basses and Ampeg amplification. He has also used Sunn amps. He is also known for decorating his own basses with paint and stickers, and his basses often had a text on the upper horn of the body.
Paul Simonon Bass Story 1976 - 2008

He started off playing through a small unknown head-amplifier and a pink 4x10 cab, but in 1978 he began using Ampeg cabinets and Ampeg amps and has since used Ampegs. His first bass was a 1. "cheap knock-off", as he called it himself, that he used through 1976 and early 1977, which he splattered in paint. In 1977, during the recording of The Clash, he received a black 2. Rickenbacker from Patti Smith, which he also decorated in paint, but he didn't quite like the sound of it, as it sounded too thin, and he also thought it was a too light-weighted (he's stated that he prefers heavy basses, as they seem more resonant and robust). Then he got hold of a white 3. Fender Precision Bass in 1978, and after that he has only played white Fenders live.

This one was probably just a cheap bass, that he gave up (there's a possibility that he broke this bass during a concert in Paris, it's been stated that this concert ended in Paul throwing off his bass in frustration because of the sound, and that might have broken the bass). Later he received a better Fender from CBS which he used many for years. CBS used to give him a new bass every now and then. It was another 4. P-Bass, and this one is known for having "Paul" scratched into the body. The pickups were black on all of his Fenders but he changed the ones on this bass into white.

He used it mainly through 1978 and used it as a backup in 1979. He played a 5. Wal JG Custom Bass during the recording session for Give 'Em Enough Rope in 1978, because the producer Sandy Pearlman suggested it, but Paul disliked it, because it had too many switches.

In 1979 he got a new 6. Fender, which was the one he smashed on the cover of London Calling. He strongly regretted that move, because it was his best sounding bass (it now resides in the Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Fame). And after it was smashed, it was back to the old 4. Fender, which he used until he got a new 7. bass in 1980 (there is a small possibility that this is the same bass as Bass 9, before it eventually got modified). Note: All of his Fenders up to then had maple necks.

But in 1981, he got a 8. Fender Fretless Precision with a rosewood fingerboard. He played it through 1981, but he got back to fretted Fenders in 1982. He then got hold of a 9. Fender Precision with a black headstock, rosewood fingerboard, and white pickups. He then also changed the neck on his 4 PAUL-bass to a neck with black headstock and rosewood fretboard.

Bass 8 and 9 was mostly used as backup basses, and they still are his backup basses, and Bass 4 still are his main bass, heavily worn and beaten up. (it can be seen on the picture of him on the top of the page.) He had a 10. sunburst Precision in the last years of The Clash, but that one was only used as a backup and by Joe Strummer during the song "The Guns of Brixton".

He had a sunburst 11. Epiphone Rivoli, which can be seen in the videos for "The Call Up" and "London Calling", but he was also seen with it in the earliest days of The Clash. It had probably belonged to Joe Strummer or Mick Jones or someone in their former bands, The 101ers (Strummer) or London SS (Mick Jones). He used an 12. Ovation acoustic bass during the recording of The Good, the Bad and the Queen."

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Great song.